GENEVA, July 8, 2018 (WAFA) – The Council of the Socialist International (SI) has called for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) for Palestinian rights at their meeting in the United Nations in Geneva. SI also called for a “total embargo on all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel.”

Socialist International brings together 140 global political parties, including 35 parties in government in South Africa, Argentina, Spain, Colombia, Portugal, Tanzania, Luxemburg, Romania, Iraq and elsewhere.

SI has reaffirmed the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and called on governments and civil organizations to “activate Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli occupation.” It called for the “total embargo on all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel as long as it continues its policies of occupation and Apartheid against the people of Palestine.”

SI strongly condemned Israel’s “racist laws,” and expressed its solidarity with Palestinian citizens of Israel, who “continue to live under a system of institutionalized discrimination.”

Full text of the declaration follows:

DECLARATION ON THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION

The Council of the Socialist International, meeting in United Nations, in Geneva, on 26-27 June 2018, held discussions on the theme of international peace and security and reflected on the prospects for peace in the Middle East, – Recalling its previous declarations of the SI, in particular the SI Councils in New York in June 2010, in Istanbul in November 2013, in Geneva in December 2014, in New York in July 2015, and in Geneva in July 2016:

The Council:

Reaffirms the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine on the June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and reaffirms its commitment, in accordance with international law, to bringing a complete end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian state that started in 1967 in order to achieve the two- state solution, as two sovereign and democratic states for all their citizens and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees on the basis of the UN resolution 194;

After more than 25 years of failing to achieve peace through the bilateral peace process, we believe that the time has come for the international community to (collectively) meet its responsibility under international law to bring an end to the occupation of the Palestinian State and all impediments to the exercise by the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination;

Recalling our 2011 Athens Council declaration on the Middle East, whereby we called for the recognition of the State of Palestine, the SI members reaffirm their commitment to:

1. Support the immediate unconditional recognition of the State of Palestine on the borders of the 4th of June 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

2. Support a greater international role through an international conference that will include various international actors from different regions in order to push for a just and lasting peace based on international law for Israel and Palestine, including complete ending the occupation that began in 1967;

3. Support a total end of all settlement activities including in East Jerusalem, the immediate end of destruction of homes and the deportation of Palestinians and to end all forms of racial discrimination and apartheid;

4. Encourage the non-violent approach at all levels and by all parties and demand the immediate cessation of all forms of violence by the Israeli occupying power and settlers against the Palestinian non-violent resistance;

5. Demand the immediate release of all the Palestinian prisoners especially the elected members of the Palestinian legislative council, minors and administrative detainees;

6. Since the SI’s last statement on April 2018, the number of Palestinian civilians attacked by Israeli Occupation Forces has risen sharply with the killing of over 130 unarmed Palestinians and injuring of over 6,000 including children, journalists, first aid paramedics, women and men. The Council strongly condemns the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel, as well as the use of lethal weapons by Israeli military forces against peaceful non-violent protesters, and call the Israeli Government to immediately lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and allow free the movement of the people. The SI affirms its support to the United Nations General Assembly resolution (A/ES-10/L.23) that calls for “guaranteeing the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in the Gaza Strip”.

7- Calls all governments and civil society organizations to activate Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli occupation, all the occupation institutions, and the illegal Israeli settlements including the total embargo on all forms of military trade and cooperation with Israel as long as it continues its policies of occupation and Apartheid against the Palestinian people.

8- The SI Council further calls on the US administration to reconsider its positions that are favouring Israel, including moving their embassy to Jerusalem. We regret the US decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council, as it did previously from the Paris Agreement on climate change and UNESCO.

9- The SI Council would like to reiterate its solidarity with the progressive forces in Israel and Palestine, including human rights defenders and civil society organizations that have been victims of a vicious campaign by the Israeli government. At the same time, the Council express its solidarity with the Palestinian citizens in Israel that continues to live under a system of institutionalized discrimination and strongly condemn the approval of racist laws, including the Citizenship Law.

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